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<\/p>\nA guardianship battle highlights the difficulty siblings have as parents age and courts step in.<\/p>\n
DALLAS \u2014 Margaret “Peggy” Hill says she knows exactly where she wants to live: Fort Collins, Colorado, with her son, daughter-in-law and their three sons.<\/p>\n
“I get up in the morning and think I’ve already died and gone to heaven living here,” Hill said.<\/p>\n
But a Dallas County probate court says the 83-year-old can’t stay. She must return to Dallas.<\/p>\n
“I don’t want to leave,\u201d Hill told WFAA. \u201cI’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cry. Why won’t they leave me alone?”<\/p>\n
Now, her son, Robert Rucker Hill, and daughter-in-law, Rebecca Hill, have been ordered to appear in court Tuesday and explain why they should not be held in contempt for failing to return Peggy Hill to Dallas.<\/p>\n
“Here I am, 47 years old, 11 o’clock at night, Googling, what happens when you get arrested?” Rebecca Hill said.<\/p>\n
Peggy Hill\u2019s situation speaks to a larger issue confronting many families. As parents get older, families face difficult decisions about how to protect them \u2014 and what legal steps may be necessary. But what happens when siblings disagree about what\u2019s best \u2014 and that family dispute ends up in court?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is very similar to a custody battle,\u201d said Stephen Dubner, a Lewisville attorney who handles guardianship cases.<\/p>\n
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\nA family fight over guardianship <\/p>\n
Peggy Hill had deep roots in Dallas.<\/p>\n
She was a successful real estate agent in the Lake Highlands area. She and her husband were married for 55 years before he died five years ago. Together, they had built a comfortable nest egg they hoped would carry them through retirement.<\/p>\n
In early 2024, she moved into a Dallas retirement community. Peggy Hill says she was happy at first, in part because she already had friends there.<\/p>\n
But over time, she says those friends moved on to be near their families.<\/p>\n
That same year, Peggy Hill was diagnosed with dementia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I will admit, I do have some memory issues,” she said.<\/p>\n
In February 2025, a Dallas doctor concluded she was unable to make her own financial, business or medical decisions, records show.<\/p>\n
Last summer, two of Peggy Hill’s adult children asked Dallas probate Judge Julia Malveaux to declare her incapacitated. One wanted to be named her guardian. The other wanted to oversee her finances.<\/p>\n
Rucker Hill fought the effort and asked to be named his mother’s guardian.<\/p>\n
Eventually, the siblings reached a settlement: Peggy Hill would spend six months in Colorado with Rucker Hill and his family and six months in the Dallas assisted living facility near two of her other sons.<\/p>\n
The siblings agreed that an independent guardian would be appointed to oversee Peggy Hill’s care and a bank to control her money. The court approved the settlement in September 2025.<\/p>\n
For the former real estate agent, that meant decisions she once made for herself were now made by the guardians, the bank and the judge.<\/p>\n
“When you have a guardian, oh my God, you don’t have a life,” Peggy Hill said.<\/p>\n
She has been in Colorado since Oct. 1. Under the settlement agreement, she was required to return to Dallas by Dec. 31. She has repeatedly refused to come back.<\/p>\n
The contrast between life in Dallas and Colorado is stark for Peggy Hill.<\/p>\n
In Dallas, Peggy lives alone in an apartment in an assisted living community. Even though she hasn\u2019t been there for months, it still costs her estate as much as $6,000 a month to rent, court records show.<\/p>\n
In Colorado, she lives with her son, daughter-in-law and three youngest grandsons, who call her “Honey.”<\/p>\n
“I tell you, they find things to add happiness to the life I have here. I have a bedroom and a bath off of a private hall,” she said. “I have a triple sliding door out to a private patio. And when I wake up in the morning, I can see rabbits hopping across my patio.”<\/p>\n
Records show there have been efforts to get her back to Dallas.<\/p>\n
In February, a care manager and another person hired by Peggy Hill\u2019s guardian went to the family\u2019s home in February to try to return her to Texas. The family provided video and audio of the encounter.<\/p>\n
Peggy sits in a chair, arms folded, as the two workers try to persuade her to go with them to the airport.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not leaving here,\u201d Peggy tells them. \u201cThis is my home.\u201d<\/p>\n
One worker tells Peggy they have called police.<\/p>\n
“I’m not going to go willingly. I’m not going to go pleasantly,” Peggy says.<\/p>\n
When police arrive, they declined to intervene, calling it a civil matter.<\/p>\n
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\nCourt orders Peggy Hill returned to Dallas <\/p>\n
In March, Peggy Hill’s guardian, Lindsay Howell of Legacy Guardianship, asked the court to order her return to Dallas. Months later, in June, the Dallas court ordered Rucker Hill to “assist” in getting his mother back to Dallas by July 13. The order also authorized Howell to bring Peggy Hill back without her consent and to enlist law enforcement or a medical provider to do it.<\/p>\n
Howell declined to discuss the case, telling WFAA, “Due to legal and ethical confidentiality constraints, I cannot comment on Ms. Hill’s guardianship case.”<\/p>\n
In court filings, Howell accuses Rucker and his wife of failing to help persuade Peggy to return \u2014 and of actively encouraging her to stay.<\/p>\n
But Rucker Hill said that he did what the order required.<\/p>\n
“Because to the T, we did everything that we were called to do by that court order. Printed it out, had a copy of it, used it like a checklist, had her drawers emptied, her medications packed, tickets purchased…The only missing link was the other party was not willing to go,” he said.<\/p>\n
The family made videos documenting what they say are their attempts to persuade Peggy Hill to leave.<\/p>\n
“Thank you for offering to take me to the airport, but I’m not going today. I don\u2019t know that I’m ever going. I want to stay,” Peggy Hill said in one video.<\/p>\n
\nJudge threatens contempt <\/p>\n
On July 24, Judge Malveaux in Dallas issued another order saying Rucker and Rebecca Hill “have had repeated acts of noncompliance” and “are guilty of not returning” Peggy Hill as ordered.<\/p>\n
The judge ordered the couple to appear Tuesday with Peggy Hill and “show cause” why they should not be held in contempt.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Hill says she was not named in the original order directing her husband to assist in returning his mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s very bizarre that I am in the paperwork for the contempt of court, but I’m not a party to the case,” she said.<\/p>\n
Dubner, the Lewisville attorney who has no connection to the case, said he would advise someone in the Colorado couple’s position to document efforts to comply with the order.<\/p>\n
“If I was in their shoes and the individual with the grandma in this case is refusing to come back, I want to cover myself. And I want to say, \u2018Judge, I have tried,\u2019” Dubner said. “\u2019I did A, B, and C. What do you want me to do? I’m trying to get her back. I’m not having any luck.\u2019”<\/p>\n
\nA new diagnosis raises questions <\/p>\n
Since arriving in Colorado, Peggy Hill has received a diagnosis that complicates the case.<\/p>\n
Medical records show doctors diagnosed her with normal pressure hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid on the brain that can cause symptoms similar to dementia. Her neurologist calls it a \u201ctechnically reversible condition.\u201d Peggy Hill is scheduled for surgery Sept. 4 to place a shunt that will drain excess fluid. She said she hopes the procedure will improve her memory problems.<\/p>\n
Her neurologist has advised against moving her to Dallas before surgery, according to her medical records.<\/p>\n
Brian Hill (no relation), her court-appointed attorney, has filed an emergency request asking the court to allow Peggy Hill to remain in Colorado for the surgery and postoperative recovery.<\/p>\n
He has also asked the court to restore Peggy Hill’s rights and sought permission for a medication evaluation to be conducted in Colorado. The judge denied the request to conduct the evaluation in Colorado.<\/p>\n
Medical records also show that since Peggy has been in Colorado, her doctors have reduced the number of medications she takes each day from 14 to six. Her family in Colorado says they\u2019ve seen a significant improvement in her memory since her medications were reduced.<\/p>\n
“Guardianship is like being a prisoner and having a ball and chain around your foot,” Peggy Hill said. “I want out of this guardianship. People who think guardianship is an answer are wrong, wrong, wrong.”<\/p>\n
Two of Peggy\u2019s other children declined to be interviewed for this story. Their attorney said in a statement to WFAA that they filed the guardianship application \u201cin good faith out of care and concern for their mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy clients have complied with the terms of the settlement agreement,\u201d attorney Jessica Dunne said.<\/p>\n
Dunne also noted her clients did not ask the court to order Peggy back to Dallas or seek the contempt proceedings against their brother and his wife.<\/p>\n